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College of Humanities

Giving Opportunities

The College of Humanities houses gifted faculty members from throughout the United States and the world. While CSUN is a large university, our faculty provide the kind of one-on-one instruction and mentorship students might expect at a small liberal arts college. In order to sustain this tradition of excellence, there is a great demand to create endowed faculty positions throughout the college's 15 departments and programs.

Below is an abbreviated list of additional needs in the college. As you can see, there is a wide variety of giving opportunities. To learn more about these needs or to inquire about a passion you would like to fund, please contact Suren Seropian, Director of Development, at (818) 677-7135, or via email at suren.seropian@csun.edu.

Documentary for the Women's Research and Resource Center

Cal State Northridge houses the oldest established, continuously operating Women's Research and Resource Center (WRRC) in the CSU system. With its rich history comes a need to archive its story for the future. WRRC is in need of funds to develop a documentary on the history of the center. Time is critical, as many of its key founders are still alive and able to share their testimony. Creating a documentary to capture the WRRC's history would add an artifact of significant value to the rich history of CSUN.

WRRC Scholar-in-Residence Program

Our students spend years learning about complex academic concepts and theories, and it is important that they have access to the writers, theorists, and scholars connected with that work as they begin to develop their own research and analysis. Hosting a Scholar in Residence annually through CSUN's Women's Research and Resource Center would allow our students to connect with the larger academic community. Scholars whose work is centrally focused on gender and its intersections with multiple social identities would be invited to spend approximately two weeks at CSUN, where they would have use of the resources on campus and provide a forum to share their scholarly or creative work in open lectures and presentations as well as smaller, more intimate workshops for students.

Restoration of Chicano Murals

Over the years, faculty and student artists in the Chicana/o Studies department have come together to create incredible murals that bring life, color and imagination to several of the department's classrooms. Figuratively and literally, these pieces represent and portray various aspects of Chicano history and the Chicano experience in the U.S. The murals were designed and painted entirely by students with faculty advisement. They include images of pre-Columbian history, the farm workers struggle, the fight for civil rights and the beginning of the movement on this campus that demanded a place and a space for Chicano studies in higher education. As these murals are housed in classrooms that have been in continuous use over the past several decades, the murals have suffered damages from the constant traffic. The good news is that with funds and resources dedicated to the cause, the murals can be restored to their original quality and protected against any future damages for many generations of CSUN students to come. The Chicana/o Studies Department is in need of funds to make this restoration a reality

Peer Mentoring Program

The Peer Mentoring Program began in fall 2006 with the goal of increasing retention rates for freshmen and sophomores in targeted GE classes — Freshman Composition and Critical Thinking — placing peer mentors in these classes each semester. Peer mentors are upper-division students who attend all class sessions with the freshmen and sophomores and help them persevere and succeed by emphasizing the importance of attendance, time management, and the use of campus resources. During its years of implementation, the Peer Mentoring Program helped to fuel a 90% increase in the retention rate of freshmen and sophomores. Unfortunately, the program is presently suspended indefinitely due to lack of funding in the budget crisis. We are eager to reinstitute this powerful, proven program with the assistance of external support.

If you would like to learn more on opportunities to give to the College of Humanities, please contact the Director of Development, Suren Seropian at (881) 677-7135. (suren.seropian@csun.edu)